Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Christine Morton-Shaw

The Riddles of Epsilonby Christine Morton-ShawRecommended Age: 12+

If your favorite subject at Hogwarts would be Ancient Runes, here is a book you will love. Any Harry Potter fan will enjoy it, in fact. It is an adventure full of puzzles, clues, and dangers, shared by two children living a century apart. In some mind-boggling, reality-bending way, their diaries reach each other across time as tragic Victorian-era Sebastian and troubled modern-day Jess struggle with the mystery and menace that threatens them both.

The two children live(d) in the same house on the small island of Lume. They even sleep (or slept) in the same wooden bed carved with swans. They are (were) both increasingly concerned about their mothers, who seem to be going mad. And they are both visited by a frightening apparition who calls himself Epsilon, and who urges them to solve the puzzle before it’s too late.

Like Sebastian a hundred years earlier, Jess is not sure whether she should trust Epsilon. Her adventure brings her up against a sinister, secret society on the island, a society going back to the time of myth, a group of fiends searching for something that only an innocent can find — an object of terrible power. Jess must find it to save her mother from a dreadful fate. But her search is filled with nagging questions, both for Jess and for the reader: Which side is Epsilon on? And even if Jess has the courage to face the dangers ahead, will she have the wisdom to choose whom to trust?

Fans of Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising, especially, should jump on this book by a first-time author whose brief biography indicates her interest in ancient clues, diaries, codes, and runes, interests brought to life in this book. The author bio also describes a recurring childhood dream that is as chilling and interesting as anything in the book!

Parents concerned about occult content should be advised the story involves a type of primitive myth and magic.

All Gripes Deserved.

All verbal content on this blog is the creative work of Robbie F. unless otherwise credited. You may reproduce the text if you like. Please give credit to "A Fort Made of Books," and also state whether you altered the material. The author is a fat stupid jerk. So, before you let anything he says ruffle your feathers, consider the source. The name "Robbie F." is not intended to deceive or conceal. It is a compromise between the author's real name (Rev. Robin D. Fish, Jr.) and that of his Mugglenet alter-ego (Robbie Fischer). The penname Robbie F. is intended only to provide a sense of continuity to readers joining this blog whether they are friends of Lutheranism or friends of Harry Potter.